I FEEL SEXIER at 60!
SUE SMITHERS IS OLDER AND WISER BUT SHE’S NEVER LOOKED OR FELT BETTER!
Seventies supermodel Sue Smithers can’t hide her famous smile. After decades of drama that included the kidnapping of her two sons, a bitter custody battle and an internet love rat determined to steal her savings, she’s bounced back and is feeling better than ever. ‘I turned 60 last December and, for me, it was a fabulous awakening. Rather than dreading such a milestone birthday, I faced it head-on with a sense of excitement and adventure. Honestly, I love getting older, because it’s so liberating,’ the glamorous grandmother admits. ‘About 10 years ago I started to put on weight. I’d lost my usual vim and vigour and had basically just given up. I felt really blah. But since turning 60, I’ve had a whole new lease of life and have vowed to get my career back on track. I want to model again, and why not?’
As one of Australia’s original supermodels, Sue has graced the covers of countless international fashion magazines.
Life was a fairytale for the Sydney-born beauty. She made her debut as a Vogue cover girl at 16. Three years later, she was strutting the catwalks of the world and sharing a Paris apartment with Jerry Hall and Grace Jones.
During her 45-year modelling career, Sue rubbed shoulders with superstars including Warren Beatty, Mick Jagger, and Beatles legends George Harrison and Ringo Starr. She also enjoyed a torrid romance in the late ’70s with Monty Python great Eric Idle.
Back in Australia, Sue appeared in drama series The Restless Years and starred in more than a dozen commercials.
She reveals how her life took a horror turn in 1989 when her estranged husband, lawyer Randy Nogel, absconded to the US with their two children, Randolph and Jesse.
‘It became a living nightmare. Private detectives were called in to track down my kidnapped sons... an international chase ensued. It was like something from a Harold Robbins novel.
‘My desperate plight became headline news. Then came the bitter custody battle. I lost 10 years of my life, mired in a tsunami of personal pain. On the upside, it was beautiful to eventually be reunited with my boys,’ she says.
After a stint in Chicago writing for a gay newspaper, Sue returned to Australia in 1999 and focused on her music career, recording several albums.
‘I then fell in love with another lawyer for a few years, and we had a fabulous time. He loved his food, so I ate and drank and laughed. In my modelling heyday I barely ate – food simply wasn’t on the menu. It was all about looking fit, fab and as trim as can be. Those stories you hear about models not eating and being bulimic are true.
‘Several years ago I ballooned to my heaviest, tipping the scales at 94 kilos. I was lethargic, felt fat and bored with life. Approaching 60, I was horrified at what I’d become. So I started slogging away at the gym, hired a dietician, and still couldn’t shift the flab,’ Sue says.
Then she saw a story on the internet about losing weight by taking a morning elixir of apple cider vinegar, turmeric and garcinia cambogia, a tropical fruit extract available in health stores or supermarkets.
‘I thought it would be a load of rubbish, but I was desperate to shift some kilos. To my absolute shock and surprise, it worked for me. Combined with exercise, I’ve lost over 10 kilos in three months. I didn’t change my diet or stop drinking,’ Sue says.
Since turning 60 and trimming down, Sue is now eager to return to the world of international modelling.
‘I’ve got an agent who represents older models, and I’m reconnecting with some of the great fashion photographers I used to work with. It’s like I’ve been reborn, and it’s fab to feel alive again. This is the sexiest I’ve felt in years!’
As for love, Sue says an unsettling encounter with an internet love rat four years ago has left her feeling a little gun-shy.
‘He approached me on Facebook and, at first, I thought he sounded divine. Man of my dreams, actually – a dashing Italian millionaire engineer. He even proposed marriage – claimed he’d bought me a whopping diamond ring!
‘But it was all a ruse to scam money out of me. I felt like the biggest moron for believing his lies. But you live and learn. I could have lost everything, had he succeeded in sucking me in,’ she reveals.
‘Right now, I’m on a mission to kick butt – my own – and get my life back to where it used to be. I realise now how much I’ve missed showbiz and the crazy world of modelling.’ NI